Swedish authorities have settled the first ever debt in Bitcoins — and now it's being auctioned off

The Swedish Enforcement Authority (Sweden's answer to the American IRS) has for the very first time settled a debt in bitcoins.

"You find assets not only in the driveway or the living room, but also on the internet. We are used to dealing with the banking system. This is another sort of asset, and a particular way to ensure [the sort of access] we haven't had before," says Johannes Paulson, in charge of operations development at the Swedish Enforcement Authority, to SvD Näringsliv. The agency has now claimed 0.6 bitcoins, valued at 23,000 Swedish krona ($2,850), from a Swedish company.

This has also opened up an opportunity for the public to make bargains in bitcoin, as the digital currency will be sold to the highest bidder in an online auction that takes place on October 12.

"There is a lot of bitcoins circulating in organized crime. We have encountered it in many instances, but we haven't been able to make a claim on [their] wallets before," says Johannes Paulson to SvD Näringsliv.